Recently, Cabarrus County was selected to host Travel Media Showcase (TMS), August 22-25, 2017, at the Embassy Suites Charlotte-Concord Golf Resort & Spa. Celebrating its 18th year in 2017, TMS is an internationally recognized travel media convention bringing together more than 175 top travel media and destinations from across North America and beyond.

Photo Credit: Michael A. Anderson Photography

“As the producer of Travel Media Showcase I am thrilled to feature Cabarrus County, North Carolina for our 2017 showcase,” said Joanne Vero, president, J. Vero & Associates before the event. “When I announced this at our closing dinner the cheering from the media attendees was loud and clear, they are ready to get in the fast lane and experience firsthand how this amazing destination entertains its visitors, so let the planning begin!”

TMS consists of a series of meetings between travel media and destination marketing professionals. Attendees also participated in local tourism product focusing on Cabarrus County’s attractions, hotels, shopping, motorsports, quaint downtowns and much more.

“Cabarrus County is honored and excited to be the host for TMS 2017,” said Donna Carpenter, President and CEO of the Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau. “This is a unique and wonderful opportunity for travel media to showcase Cabarrus County to various media from around the country and we know that the 2017 convention will be a huge success.”

The announcement was made on Thursday, August 18 in Grapevine, TX the host of TMS 2016. Previous host cities include Irvine, CA; Oklahoma City, OK; Kansas City, MO; and Rockford, IL.

Julie Hinson, TMP Communications Manager for the host company Cabarrus County Convention & Visitors Bureau, took some time to answer a few questions about this fun week-long event that took place.

What is the benefit to Cabarrus County?

Photo Credit: Michael A. Anderson Photography

The Cabarrus County CVB was able to sit down for one-on-one appointments with over 70 travel journalists during the conference this week to share the many stories of our exciting destination. In addition, the event also included receptions at Southern Grace Distilleries in Mt. Pleasant and Charlotte Motor Speedway along with local tours that brought travel media to locations including Downtown Concord and Kannapolis, Lomax Farm, area race shops and more. We saw a significant amount of sharing on social media platforms during and after these events (search #tmscabarrus on social media!) and look forward to continuing that momentum, monitoring for and sharing the resulting editorial coverage of our destination as a result of the show. Many of the participating journalists are interested in returning to Cabarrus County to create even more content that will inspire their audiences to visit out destination and boost our local tourism industry.

How did Cabarrus County get picked to host it this year?

Representatives from the Cabarrus County CVB participated in Travel Media Showcase conference in 2015 and 2016 as an exhibiting destination to share the stories of our community and encourage travel writers to visit, explore the area and share their experiences here with their audiences. The value of hosting the conference and sharing experiences firsthand was very evident, and the CVB expressed interest in hosting to the event organizer which spurred a year-long planning process to maximize the experiences of attendees while in Cabarrus County.

For more, visit www.CabCoCVB.com or find them at Facebook.com/VisitCabarrus and @SpeedCityUSA.

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